Ranji Trophy, Group A: Virender Sehwag fails again for Delhi; Punjab bowled out for 184

Delhi\'s top-order came a cropper after being inserted in to bat as Sehwag failed to open his account, young Unmukt Chand managed just three runs and Gautam Gambhir (32) failed to convert a good start.

Sambalpur: Virender Sehwag's awful form continued but Mithun Manhas (92) and Rajat Bhatia (unbeaten 71) struck half-centuries to ensure that Delhi reach a respectable 268 for 6 against Odisha on day one of their Ranji trophy Group A match on Friday.

Delhi's top-order came a cropper after being inserted in to bat as Sehwag failed to open his account, young Unmukt Chand managed just three runs and Gautam Gambhir (32) failed to convert a good start.

Sehwag, who has scored just 69 runs since the start of this Ranji season in his last six innings, became second victim of paceman Suryakant Pradhan, who is playing just his second first class game.

Pradhan got both his wickets in the sixth over of the innings as he dismissed Chand in the second ball and Sehwag on the last. Gambhir and Manhas and then added 103-runs for the third wicket to bring the innings back on track before paceman Deepak Behera broke the stand by dismissing the left-hander.

Vaibhav Rawal got a good start and out of the 40-run partnership with Manhas, he scored 35 runs. As Manhas closed in on his century Basant Mohanty dismissed the seasoned batsman. His 92 runs came off 115 balls with 18 boundaries and a six.

Rawal he too could not convert that into a substantial knock and was trapped by offspinner Govind Poddar. Bhatia though kept his nerves and continued to bat patiently. Delhi also lost wicket-keeper batsman Rahul Yadav (11), trapped by left-arm spinner Dhiraj Singh.

Bhatia was unbeaten on 71, which came off 141 balls with the help of 11 shots to the fence. Giving him company was Varun Sood (12).

All five bowlers employed by the hosts were among wickets with Pradhan (2 for 91) being the best.

At Mohali, Vidarbha bowlers produced a disciplined effort to bowl out Punjab for a modest 184 and take a strong grip over their Group A Ranji Trophy match.

By stumps on the opening day of the match at the PCA Stadium, the visitors had reached 75 for 1 to trail by 109 runs with nine wickets in hand.

Middle-order batsman and skipper Mandeep Singh top-scored with a strokeful 54-ball 56, but rest of the Punjab batsmen failed miserably against Shrikant Wagh and Amol Jungade, both finishing with three wickets apiece. There were also two wickets for medium pacer Sandeep Singh.

Coming in to bat at number 10, pacer VRV Singh smashed 30 off just 13 balls, hitting three fours and two sixes in the process. He was the second best scorer in Punjab's first innings.

At the close of play, Faiz Fazal (34) Ravi Jangid (24) were batting for Vidarbha. They lost opener Akshay Kolhar for nine, the batsman getting out to Siddarth Kaul.

Sent into bat, Punjab were off to a poor start as they lost two wickets with just 16 runs on the board. Opener Jiwanjot Singh struggled to get 15 runs, facing 57 balls in 100 minutes of stay at the crease.

Taruwar Kohli was run out for 7 while Gurkeerat Singh could manage 14 before he was caught behind off the bowling of Singh.

Sandeep Sharma made 20 but it was Mandeep, who was the long bringt spot for the hosts. He smashed 12 fours during his quick-fire knock.

At Rohtak, Wicket-keeper Nitin Saini (109) smashed his fifth first class century to stand tall amid ruins as Haryana were all out for 247 against Karnataka on the opening day of their Ranji Trophy Group A match.

It was a listless batting show by most of the Haryana batsmen as only Sachin Rana (36) and Avi Barot (35) resisted the Karnataka attack apart from Saini.

Saini some how managed to completed his century and was the last man out. He faced 152 balls for his 109-run knock which was studded with 14 boundaries, including three sixes.

Stuart Binny scalped three batsmen at the expense of 43 runs while Abhimanyu Mithun (2 for 40), HS Sharath (2 for 68) and Ronit More (2 for 57) claimed two wickets each.

Karanata were 18 for no loss in reply, with Mayank Agarwal (3) and Lokesh Rahul (10) at the crease.

It was Binny, who drew the first blood for Karnataka when he broke the 53-run stand between skipper Rahul Dewan (23) and Avi Barot.

Binny castled Barot and Sharath had the rival skipper caught behind after dismissing Sunny Singh (1). More bowled Y Tomar and in no time the hosts were 104 for 4 from 53 for none.

Rana and Saini then added 72 runs for the fifth wicket and when that stand was broken by Mithun, Haryana batsmen struggled to stay at the crease.

At Mumbai, hard-hitting batsman Saurabh Tiwary rescued Jharkhand with a blistering, career-best 175 not out as holders Mumbai lost the plot and allowed the visitors to escape to 262 for 8 on day one of their four-day Ranji Trophy Group A fixture.

Tiwary slammed eight sixes and struck 15 fours to send the Mumbai bowling attack scurrying for cover after the hosts, after asking Jharkhand to bat first on a Wankhede Stadium wicket having good bounce, had taken the upper hand before tea by reducing the visitors to 180 for 8.

The 23-year-old Jamshedpur-born left hander, who came in when his side was tottering at 13 for 2 in the 7th over, took the Mumbai attack by the scruff of its neck in his 304-minute knock in which he faced 212 balls.

By the end of the day, the home team was clueless about how to stop him or break his 82-run 9th wicket partnership with tailender Shiv Shankar Rao (5 not out in 123 minutes).

Tiwary struk beautifully as Mumbai went on the defensive by posting all the fielders on the boundary line against him and tried their best to prise out Rao at the other end without success even after bowling 64 balls to the latter.

Tiwary, who notched up his first ton of the season which bettered his previous career-best of 169, raced to his century with a single in 144 balls with 13 fours and three sixes. He then went on a six-hitting spree by carting the bowlers mainly over the leg side when they tried to bounce him out.

The tall batsman, who has played for Mumbai Indians in IPL and knows Wankhede ground well, registered his tenth first class hundred after all the other top order batsmen found the going tough against the Mumbai pace and spin attack.

Medium pacer Javed Khan was the most successful bowler with 4 for 61, including the wickets of both openers Bhavin Thakker and Rameez Nemat which he secured cheaply. Fellow medium pacer Shardul Thakur and left-arm spinner Vishal Dabholkar bagged two wickets apiece.

Mumbai were on top in the first session though Tiwary was already in his elements driving and flicking the bowling around to be unbeaten on 54 in a team score of 100 for 4 in 34 overs.